Radical Compassion: Finding Christ in the Heart of the Poor

Halfway through his book, Jesuit priest Gary Smith describes a 2 a.m. street scene he once witnessed. A couple of guys, both probably drunk, were having a shouting and shoving match. Tempers escalated until one of the two pulled a knife. The other guy shouted: "You can't kill me, motherf***er! I'm already dead!"This haunting scene serves as a metaphor for the book's message. The people with whom Smith lives and ministers--the street people, the abandoned, the unstable, the addicted, the hopeless--too frequently see themselves as the walking dead. Why wouldn't they? "Respectable" society dismisses them as the dark, dirty secret it would like to sweep under the rug. It doesn't take too much exposure to our success-oriented culture to internalize its standards of social condemnation. If you're told often enough that you're garbage, you begin to believe it.The stories that Smith tells about these people are heartrending. But they also sometimes shine with a certain dignity and hope that helps readers break through the stereotypical way we've been trained to think about the homeless. In listening to Smith's stories, those of us who are fortunate to live on the right side of the tracks just might be able to recognize that we're also among the living dead. Our pocketbooks may be healthy, but our hearts are dead because we tolerate the suffering of our fellow humans and do nothing about it. Radical compassion--to which all of us are called--quickens us back to life. The poor's very existence is a challenge to our lifestyles and a gift to us of the possibility of conversion.Smith refuses to be a zombie. As he says (p. 98): "I take it all [the suffering of others] personally. If a woman or a man is abused, then I am abused, and if I don't feel that way, then I want to feel that way. If your flesh is lacerated, so is mine."To which I say: "Amen!"

I could not put this book down. The poor were fairly and honestly represented and the author treats them with such dignity and kindness. One is hard pressed to find any fault with a man or woman who ministers to the poor. They are often a light to us and Mother Theresa made this blatantly clear through her life and work among them. A magnificent text; worth reading and worth living!

What a great book! A great balance of compassion and indignation at the way we treat the poor. It gave a me a wonderful insight into the heart of the poor and challnegened me to look at each person as a precious individual

Gary Smith shows a view of the poor that I never thought of before. Ultimately, that they are human beings and have feelings. Smith helps people without wanting to receive anything in return. It's a fascinating book and very touching.

Be brave and read this book. There are three strands interwoven: stories of the "hearts of the poor"; the ongoing live lessons of the writer and his companions who minister (and are ministered to) in bleak scenes on the street and in derelict apartments; words of the Bible and of Jesuit formation.The prose is terrible in its evocation of cockroach-infested clothing and bed linens, terrific as it brings the reader to the bedside of a man for whom dying has become an encounter with grace. The poor have faces, although we are inclined to look past them. What this book accomplishes so memorably is to allow a glimpse at hearts and personal histories laid bare. Mental illness, addictions, and burnt bridges tell some of the story, but not all of it. What I find especially challenging about this book is that it convinces me that everyone has the opportunity and, indeed, the obligation to make a positive difference in the lives of "the least of these". This is, of course, the reason that reading it requires a measure of spiritual bravery. If you through this book allow yourself to be introduced to Christ in the heart of the poor, you will not be unchanged.